The king of Iroba was appealed to, and for an adequate remuneration he promised to supply the Waganda with bananas; while we possessed sufficient grain upon which the Wangwana might subsist for a few days longer. The king of Iroba again confirmed the information that Antari was collecting a large force of canoes, and about sunset a single canoe, powerfully manned, dashed up opposite our camp, and one man stood up with spear and shield, and delivered a stout defiance, after which the canoe as hastily departed for Bumbireh, without paying any attention to Kytawa’s chiefs. It was apparent that our departure for Uganda would be hotly contested, but of the result there could be but one opinion. What kind of canoes Antari possessed I knew by the specimens which Kytawa, who was neighbour to him, sent to us at Mahyiga. Their number would be probably a hundred, which, with a crew of ten men in each, would amount to a thousand. Allowing six bowmen in each canoe, this would make the fighting force about 600 strong, against which I could offer 70 guns and about 350 effective spearmen of Uganda. _August 2._—However, it was my duty to persist in avoiding the bloody conflict, as it would assuredly be by water, and employ all my efforts towards bringing Antari and the natives of Bumbireh to a sense of the inutility of hostile demonstrations. Messages of a peaceful nature accordingly passed between us. Antari’s elders visited us once more, on the 2nd of August, this time with an assurance that we should not be molested, as a proof of which they said that Antari had given orders to the people of Bumbireh to sell us provisions upon the condition that we should deliver Shekka, Antari’s son, and two other chiefs to Kytawa, the day we should arrive on the mainland. This news was received with shouts of applause by all, and no one was more sincerely glad that the trouble was over than myself, though there was something in the manner of the delivery, in the sly exchange of looks between Antari’s elders and the prisoners, that I did not like. It may have been that a slight suspicion still lurked in my mind, but I did not permit any sign of doubt to escape me, but treated the elders affably and courteously. Sabadu—who was of a sanguine disposition—and young Bugomba were for testing the truth of this manifestation of friendship at once, but I restrained them for this day, as we possessed sufficient food for the time being. The Waganda also were eager to remind me that they were a people decidedly averse to scarcity, and they obtained my promise that next morning they should have cloths and beads wherewith to purchase food. _August 3._—Accordingly the next day Sabadu was despatched with beads, cowries, and cloths to Kajurri, from the cove of which we had made our escape in April. They were absent about six hours, during which time I was very anxious, as the event would decide our future.